Since home leisure is getting emphasized day by day with the development of 4K technology, families can experience cinema-level resolutions. And to be more advanced, 4K HDR Blu-rays are designed to be the major containers for extraordinary display. However, how to play 4K HDR on PC for the best outcome? This tutorial guide will mainly discuss everything you should know about 4K HDR and the best 4K HDR Blu-ray players to equip.

Part 1: Full Introduction on 4K HDR

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Files that contain the.HDR file extension also referred to as HDRI or Radiance HDR files are raster image files that have been saved in the HDR image format.

HDR images can represent a greater range of luminance levels than can be achieved using more traditional methods, such as many real-world scenes containing very bright sunlight to extreme shade. To put it in another way, the HDR image format can be used to enhance the brightness and color of digital images. That is, HDR files are of higher definition than other files.

So where can you get HDR content like HDR videos or movies? Actually, HDR can be found and downloaded from Amazon, Netflix, Vudu, FandangoNow, Ultra, YouTube, and many more places. After downloading the wanted HDR files, you can now enjoy it as wished; no matter you want to play the file on the computer, on TV on your mobile phone. Just read the below part to know how to play HDR files on different platforms.

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Part 2: Best Free Blu-ray Player Software to Play 4K HDR

If you happen to seek for some practical solutions to play 4K HDR on PC, there is no doubt a professional 4K HDR Blu-ray player should be involved. As we all know, Windows native player software is not capable of supporting these high-level 4K HDR files. Thus, a versatile Windows Media Player alternative is required. In this case, what is highly recommended is the following 4k UHD HDR media player - Leawo Blu-ray Player.

This free Leawo Blu-ray Player is a handy 4K HDR Dolby vision Blu-ray player for HDR full content playback on the computer. With this best 4K HDR Blu-ray player, you can play any HDR videos without any hassle. While playing the 4K HDR Blu-ray films, you can freely change the playback settings including subtitles, audio and video settings to your own preference.

More importantly, this 4K HDR Blu-ray player can support much more than HDR files. For example, it is able to play 4K video in MKV, MP4 and TS formats, 1080P videos in HD MP4, HD MKV, HD MOV, etc., 720P videos in MP4, AVI, WPL, and other formats, be it camcorder reordered footage, downloaded online video, or streamed video.

Simultaneously, the solid background allows lossless audio output including Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD (including 5.1, 7.1 channels), etc. Furthermore, it is a region-free 4K HDR software player that offers a diversity of decryptions for disc protections. In addition, an upgradable edition is available to convert Blu-ray/DVD to MKV files without quality loss.

  • Leawo Blu-ray Player
  • Leawo Blu-ray Player

    Region-free Blu-ray player software to play Blu-ray disc and DVD disc for free, regardless of disc protection and region restriction.
    Play 4K FLV videos, 4K MKV videos, 4K MP4 videos, etc. without quality loss.
    Play 1080P videos, 720P videos with lossless quality.

Best of all, this 4K HDR movie player has a super easy user interface, ensuring computer novices to operate the software within 1-2-3 steps. Now, we can have a closer look at how to play 4K HDR on PC with the friendly 4K HDR Blu-ray player. The instruction will take the Windows system as an example.

Step 1. Download and install the free best 4K HDR Blu-ray player

As a cross-platform application, Leawo Blu-ray Player has another version on Mac. Mac users can download this free 4k UHD HDR media player as well.

Step 2. Open the installed software on the computer

Then hit the “Open File” option to load the wanted HDR file to the main interface. Meanwhile, it supports instant drag-and-drop feature which improves the better convenience.

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Step 3. Visit the subtitle dialog box

You can right-click on the main interface to show the pop-up menu where you can see and enter the “Subtitle” tab. Here, tick the first item to enable or disable the subtitles for 4K HDR movies.

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Step 4. Adjust audio setting

Select the “Audio” from the right-click list to change the volume settings as needed and wanted. The amplification can override the original maximum. After that, continue the file playback.

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Step 5. Make some changes to the 4K HDR video parameters

Right-click on the playing field and tap the “Video…” option to browse this panel.

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Part 3: Other Programs Supporting 4K HDR Playback

Apart from the best 4K HDR Blu-ray player above, there are also many 4k UHD HDR media players in the markets. In this list, we have picked up three proper 4K HDR movie players.

No. 1 5K Player

Speaking of an advantageous 4K HDR software player, this 5K Player surely comes to one of my solid recommendations too. With it, you can easily play any HDR files, including M2TS, AVCHD (AVCHD camcorder recording), TP, MPEG-TS, EVO (HD DVD video format), MKV (most popular and universal HD media container format), AVC, MOD (JVC HD camcorder shootings). Also, it is able to support HD video mixed-in subtitle tracks. There is an Apple-related feature that enables AirPlay on Mac computers.

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No. 2 DivX Player

Being the best 4K HDR Blu-ray player on Windows, this app is created with multiple performances. Featuring edge video technology for 4K HDR movies, it becomes one of the most popular 4K HDR software players. Although it is specialized in Divx decoding, dealing with 4K UHD videos and HEVC files is impressively effective. This award-winning 4K HDR Blu-ray player can stream MP4, MKV, AVI, and DIVX movies on big screens. The cool ability is coming with smooth RW/FF operation while users are able to organize 4K HDR movies in the library.

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No. 3 PowerDVD Player

Developed by Cyberlink, PowerDVD is a simple 4k UHD HDR media player that is suitable for home 4K HDR movie enjoyment. Packed with a bunch of essential 4k UHD HDR decryptions, it can play 4K HDR on PC with the best sound and picture details. More than that, it seems to have the capacity of managing audio tracks, movie content, and photos. Enriched with physical disc methods, this 4K HDR Blu-ray player will be compatible with 360˚ videos as well. But it is Windows-only.

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Part 4: Things You Need to Play 4K HDR on PC

Besides the software part about the 4k UHD HDR media player, it also requests the hardware devices to play 4K HDR on PC. To be more specific, you should make sure your computer is inbuilt with the 4K HDR supported discrete or integrated GPU (PlayReady 3.0 and HDCP 2.2 output) and accessible graphics driver. In the meantime, you may need a 4K display with HDCP 2.2 capability.

Some friends suggest the 4K HDR TV – Sony Bravia ZD9 model in order to watch 4K Blu-ray on 1080P TV monitors. To view HDR content on the TV, you just need to get an HDR-compatible TV at hand. At present, practically every TV manufacturer you can think of now have HDR-compatible TV sets, such as Vizio, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Philips, LG, TCL, Hisense and many more.

Next, you will need the HDMI cable or other connections such as HDCP 2.2-certified cable, HDCP 2.2 and 4K capable port (HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4 or USB-C) to link your PC with the monitor. When you finish assembling the appliances to play 4K HDR on PC, you should look back and check the system functionality. Set up the system into the corresponding display resolution. Also, don’t forget to update to the latest Windows system.

If you like to stream online 4K HDR content, it is advised to reach the Internet connection speed of at least 25 Mbps. You can also consider a 4K HDR streaming box – Roku Express Full HD Streaming Device, which is able to help stream any full HD files from all major popular services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Go, and SlingTV and many more. Also, this software is pretty easy to set up and use. So there is no need to worry that you may get confused over the complex user interface. Moreover, its excellent remote control feature allows you to remotely control the streaming process while lying cozily on the couch.

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Bonus: How to Play 4K HDR Video on DVD Player

Sometimes, you may want to play 4K HDR video on DVD player, but unfortunately, you cannot play 4K HDR video directly on DVD player. What you should do is to convert 4K HDR video into DVD firstly. How to create DVD from 4K HDR video? Here we will introduce you an awesome third-party tool Leawo DVD Creator. Leawo DVD Creator is capable of converting more than 180 formats of videos into DVD. Based on the advanced technology of burning speed, videos in kinds of formats like AVI, MP4, WMV, MOV and more can be created into DVD at a fast speed and excellent output quality.

Free Download Free Download

Hereby, you can refer to the following instruction to begin burning 4K HDR video into DVD.

Step 1. Run Leawo Prof. Media package on PC

Then choose the module Blu-ray/DVD creator.

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Step 2. Import 4K HDR video source files

You can choose the option “Add Video>Add Video/Add Video Folder” or drag and drop 4K HDR video files directory to the program to get the source files imported.

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Step 3. Set the output files

You can select the dis type in two options like DVD-9 and DVD-5. You also can select the aspect ratio as you need. And the output files size will be displayed on the capacity bar.

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Besides, you can click on “Settings” button and choose the option “Copy & Burn”.

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Step 4. Make settings for burning

Hit on the green button “Burn” from the main interface to make a right sidebar pop up. You can edit the output file name from the “Disc Label” option. You can set the output directory for saving the output files under the option “Save to”. Then hit on the button “Burn” from the bottom to begin video conversion to DVD.

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